NBA Commissioner David Stern is in Utah attending a luncheon event in Salt Lake City tomorrow. He spoke with media before tonight’s Utah Jazz game and was asked how he feels about the Kings’ future in Sacramento, considering the recent snag in the push to build a new downtown arena. Here are the commissioner’s comments via Brian Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune:
You know, I’m more hopeful than I am confident right now. I’m hopeful because the city of Sacramento has between last meeting and this, has been responsible for responding on a sponsorship basis, on a ticket basis and on allocating $250 million or so for a new arena. In basically a week — what’s today? Wednesday — in a week, our owners will be coming in for meetings next Thursday and next Friday, and we’ll be having the Maloofs in to talk with some group of them and we’ll see where it’s going. Very, very hopeful that it gets on track, because the owners have a respect for the Maloofs. And I think the owners also have an enormous respect for what Sacramento has done over the years in supporting an NBA franchise. And it’s always been our first preference — particularly when government agencies or states are helpful — to keep a team where a team is if they’re playing in a good facility.
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